FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT
PETER is watching TV news.
PETER (V.O.): Oh, hundreds gather at a German church to witness the performance of John Cage's musical work As SLow aS Possible. Changing a chord for the first time in 7 years?
We hear the news presenter reporting: The work's extreme interpretation may take 639 years.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A hundred years is nothing in space-time, only life is too short.
Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The composer himself lived to 79.
The news presenter continues: The composer has also got a piece called "4'33''". The performers don't have to play any musical note at all.
Surfing the web with his phone, Peter watches a video clip of "4'33"". We see on screen performers with musical instruments sitting on stage, and the pianist sight-reading the musical score.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's stereo. I can hear the sounds of my environment here.
Peter sees on screen that after 4'33" of "silence", the performers stand to thank the audience. We hear after a round of applause:"Encore!"
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The composer studied Zen Buddhism and I-Ching. I should be more conscious of the contemporary music in my ears.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): This is about the nature of sound, and humans' perception of it.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The work might be categorized as a musical work.
Act 2
INT. SITTING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'): On the visual side, I recall the ending scene of a western mystery/drama film: Blow-up (1966).
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'): It is a park scene. The hero sees players #1 and # 2 without any tennis rackets or ball playing a mimed tennis match.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And as the imaginary ball drops in the way of the hero, the body language of the players suggests that he should lend a hand.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Hesitating, the hero picks up the imaginary ball and throws it back to the players.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Following the trajectory of the hero's throw, player#1 shoots the imaginary ball to player#2.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Is that a way how our minds see?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The mime performance can be categorized as a dramatic work.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Having visited a couple of museums of modern arts in my past travels and done further research on arts, I've reflected on the originality of artistic works and the degree of artistic quality.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The extreme artistic challenge is whether the expression of a creative idea can be done via ordinarily manufactured objects ("readymades") that the artist selected or modified eg Marcel Duchamp's Fountain 1917.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The interpretative significance lies in whether beauty or emotional power can be readily appreciated.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If the arrangement of any "readymade" is the result of intellectual effort and the work is having emotional power or is capable of communicating beauty, then the transformed expression is a new artistic form.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The work so derived wouldn't be regarded as a copyright infringement of third party rights.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But, the transformed work must the the result of labour, skill and judgment, or the sweat of the brow of the creator.
Peter looks up the ceiling.
Act 3
INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY
Phone in hand, Peter is watching a video clip with the caption: Japan Virtual Travel - Harvard Alumni Travels.
PETER (V.O.): Such virtual travels complement what I don't hear, see or think about while travelling places.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I took Japanese underground trains, I paid no attention to the music in the stations. Now I know that the music in each station represents a part of a long musical composition.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.): When I passed by Japanese 5-storey pagodas, I just dismissed them as religious, not thinking deeply about their historical cultural impact.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Just then I followed a lecture on Zen Buddhism in Japan. Through the illustration of Japanese art forms, the professor attempts to synthesize the artistic expression of nonsensical emptiness.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Coincidentally, I'm trying to rationalize the apparent nonsensical emptiness in a non-religious and transcendental context, attempting to raise the level of explanation or appreciation.
FADE OUT.
THE END
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